No private party interested, Punjab, HP hold talks on Naina Devi ropeway project
Tribune News Service
Shimla, August 24
The Tourism Secretaries of Himachal and Punjab held talks in Chandigarh yesterday to expedite the Naina Devi-Anandpur Sahib ropeway project, which was conceived in 2012. No private player has shown interest in the project that was to facilitate the movement of pilgrims, most of them from Punjab and Haryana who come to pay obeisance at the Naina Devi temple in Bilapsur district.
It is likely that the Himachal and Punjab governments may again join hands to set up the project, for which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between them in 2012 was scrapped later.
The two states had again signed an MoU in September 2018 but the project did not take off even after six years. Most of the ropeway projects have met the same fate with hardly any progress. Till date, no ropeway has been made operational though it is considered a preferred mode of transport in the hills, especially to reduce road congestion.
The cost of the ropeway project conceived in 2012 was pegged at Rs 85 crore with an initial span of about 2.5 km, which was enhanced to 3.85 km. The project cost is likely to escalate to Rs 175 crore.
Repeated efforts by the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation to rope in a private player for the project have not materialised. Bids were invited for the project thrice in March 2020 and later in April 2021 and the deadline was also extended but no investor showed interest. It was on January 4, 2022, the previous BJP government had decided to appoint a new technical consultant for preparing fresh bid documents for the project.
The Congress government headed by Virbhadra Singh had scrapped the first MoU in August 2013 on the ground that it was lopsided and against Himachal’s economic interests. This MoU was signed by the two states on July 26, 2012, during the BJP government headed by PK Dhumal and its scrapping resulted in huge cost escalation to over Rs 100 crore.
A fresh MoU was signed between Himachal and Punjab on September 2018 and a Joint Venture Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) was constituted on April 3, 2019, to expedite the project. However, there has been no headway as no investor evinced interest in the project.
Initially, the ropeway having a span of 2.5 km was to have three terminal points – Rampur (lower), Toada (intermediate) and Naina Devi (upper). Later, the span of the ropeway was increased to 3.85 km. The project is expected to reduce traffic congestion on the land route connecting the two pilgrim centres.
